


The Salt of Your Skin

by Veeebles



Category: 13 Reasons Why (TV), Thirteen Reasons Why - Jay Asher
Genre: Alex and Zach need to bone, Aunty veeebles bringing all the smut, Clony hinted, M/M, Post 2nd season, Quarry, Summer, Sunbathing, Suncream, Swimming, The gang being teenagers, Zach and alex crushing on each other, Zach is a big tree, Zalex, handjobs, more to come - Freeform, post tapes, pun intended
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-26
Updated: 2018-05-26
Packaged: 2019-05-14 00:29:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,551
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14759205
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Veeebles/pseuds/Veeebles
Summary: Zach was gentle, always so damn gentle with him and his hands were big and strong and slick with the cream, his calloused palms glided over Alex’s skin and it felt so good he did not want him to ever stop.He stifles a groan as those fingers pressed into his shoulder blades, working out the tension there, kneading back and forth until Alex is sagged and limp beneath him. He heard him chuckle and shift, actually straddling him this time, strong thighs bracketing him in.





	The Salt of Your Skin

The summer after the tapes had been the warmest they had seen in years.

Alex hated it.

Before, he would have spent his days roaming around town with Jess, or the guys, meandering from ice cream truck to ice cream truck. He would have lived a life of indulgence, basking in the sunlight, maybe going up to the Quarry or the local outdoor pool to hang out. These days, any idea of leaving his room was absurd. What was the point? He couldn’t swim, could barely walk, Jess was back with Justin so he didn’t have her to call for a hangout whenever he wanted. All in all, his bedroom was the best place to be; he could play video games, nap, it was nice and cool, the sun didn’t blind him - it was perfection so why not stay there all summer?

That had been the plan, that was until Zach got involved.

The jock had come bounding into his room like the big, overgrown puppy dog that he was, a huge grin on that ridiculously handsome face of his and pulled him – literally pulled him – out of his bed declaring that this was no way for a ‘strapping young man’ to spend his summer.

Alex had protested, tried fighting but again half of his body didn’t exactly work right and fighting Zach was what he imagined fighting the whomping willow from Harry Potter was like.  

And so, here he was; laid out on a towel on the grass at the towns quarry, sunglasses balanced on his nose, skin smeared with enough sunscreen to last him the entire year, ice cream slowly melting its way down his hand, watching his friends splashing about in the water, their laughs and shouts of glee filling the air.

He licked at the ice-cream – raspberry ripple, bought for him by Zach who was apparently worried he wasn’t intaking enough sugar and would weaken in the sun. Honestly, he thought he was as bad as his mother at times.

Though, Alex would never admit it, he enjoyed Zach’s attentions. There was something in how Zach cared for him that was unlike everyone else. He didn’t fuss and worry because he though he was just some fragile, sad thing, like a dying plant that needed watered and sat in the sun. Zach was just one of those people that kindness exuded from as easy as breathing. Alex genuinely believed there was not a bad hair on Zach’s body. The big giant of a guy was the nicest person he had ever met and he was lucky enough to have that kindness bestowed on him. He gave and gave to Alex and never expected anything back in return and Alex took it all, greedily drinking it all down.

He grinned as he watched his friends play. Justin had Jess on his shoulders and Tony had Clay on his and they were challenging teach other to a chicken fight. Though, Tony was a tad bit smaller than Justin and Clay was all together much less co ordinated that the cheerleader so their side consisted of a lot of swearing (on Tony’s part) and flailing around (on Clay’s part) lending Jess the opportunity to shove Clay off almost immediately. Alex laughed as he watched Clay re surface, instantly bickering with a grinning Tony until Justin splashed some water in his face and told him to grow up, lapsing into a water fight that ended with Ryan yelling at them from his place sunbathing not too far away from Alex that they were splashing ‘disgusting quarry water on his beautiful body’.

Alex noticed Zach swimming to shore, moving out of the water like some kind of fairy-tale merman, that tan skin of his glistening in the sun as he shook water out of his hair, running a hand through and grinning as he jogged over to Alex.

“Hey, the rest of the group are going to that ice cream place down the street if you want to go.”

Alex thought about it for moment but the last thing he wanted to do right now was move, much less hobble down the dirt trail to town.

He shook his head up at the Jock, squinting in the sun, “no I’m good, I’ll just stay here.”

“Cool.”

Zach plopped down on the edge of Alex’s towel, elbows rested on his knees as he waved off their group of friends, pushing his sunglasses up into his hair and wiping the sweat from his forehead with the back of his hand.

“You can go, Zach, I can say here myself, I don’t constantly need babysitting.”

Zach grinned at that, looking at Alex over his shoulder, “I know that, I didn’t really want to go anyway, think I’ve had enough ice cream to last me and few days. Besides, I can only impress people a few times with my spoon sticking to nose trick.”

Alex rolled his eyes but was grinning as he turned to lay back down on the towel on his belly, closing his eyes against the bright sun. He remembered the first time Zach had proudly shown him that stupid trick. They had gone out to a local diner for some milkshakes after a bad PT session that had left Alex sore and feeling useless when his stupid arm refused to do what he wanted it to. Zach had tried to cheer him up by showing him how he could stick a spoon to his nose. The reality was he was terrible at it, but Alex had ended up with sore sides from laughing after what must have been the fifteenth time the spoon had clattered to the table. Zach’s defeated face had reminded him of a sad puppy which had only made him laugh more.

“Your shoulders are looking pink.”

Alex opened one eye, squinting to see Zach watching him over his shoulder, eyes assessing his pale skin warily.

“I have sun cream on.”

The Jock shook his head, drops of water falling on to Alex’s heated skin, making him shiver a little

“I think you need more,” he decided, kneeling on the grass by Alex’s arm, pulling his bag over and rummaging through it until he came out with his industrial strength sun cream that Alex was convinced he only bought for him.

“Zach I’m fine, Jesus, you’re like my mom.”

He wasn’t really listening, just popped open the cap to the sun cream and squirted a generous amount on his hand, “Hold still.”

“Zach what are you – seriously?”

The Jock was more or less straddling his hips, swim shorts still wet from the water brushing against Alex’s legs. His hands start rubbing the sun cream into Alex's shoulders, warm from the sun. Any more protests died in Alex’s throat as he feels those hands press gently into his back, it feels nice, really nice.

Zach was gentle, always so damn gentle with him and his hands were big and strong and slick with the cream, his calloused palms glided over Alex’s skin and it felt so good he did not want him to ever stop.

He stifles a groan as those fingers pressed into his shoulder blades, working out the tension there, kneading back and forth until Alex is sagged and limp beneath him. He heard him chuckle and shift, actually straddling him this time, strong thighs bracketing him in.

Alex realised he could feel him through his swim shorts, pressed just slightly against his ass, brushing back and forth with his movements. He knows it’s an innocent thing, just sitting that way to get a better angle, Zach isn’t bright most of the time and Alex knows he isn’t as tuned in to this moment as he is.

His hands move lower, down to the small of his back, rubbing cream in there too, moving in circles, thumbs pressing in every so often. Alex loses himself in this, in his comforting weight on top of him, his hands all over him, his breathing coming out soft and close to his ear like he’s leaning down towards him, that damn brush of his swim shorts against his ass.

Oh fuck. Not again.

Alex squirms a little, cursing himself for letting himself get lost in this.

He’s hard.

“Okay, I’m done, I think you’re good,” Zach says, moving off him and setting himself down on his own towel next to Alex’s. Alex remains immobile, terrified to even move his hips a little, his hard on pressed into the ground beneath his weight, achingly wanting to grind into his towel a little, the thought only making him harder.  

“Can you do my back? I can’t reach.”

Zach thrusts the bottle of sun cream in Alex’s face but the smaller boy doesn’t move. He stays there, rigid as a pole, face red as he tried to think how the fuck he’s going to get out of this one.

“Alex?”

Zach leans down to look at him, concern written all over that stupidly handsome face of his.

“I’ll do it later, okay?” Alex prays he will leave it at that. But it’s Zach, big, stupid Zach that worries about Alex more than anything else.

“Are you okay? Is it your leg? Did I hurt you? Try sitting up-”

“-No!” his hands fly out to stop Zach but too late as he pushes him to his side a bit in an effort to get him to sit up. As a result, his hips lift off the ground and by the look on Zach’s face – yeah, he noticed.

“I’m hard again.”

“Oh.”

Alex wants the ground to swallow him up. He feels himself twitch a little because Zach is staring at his hard on, tenting his swim shorts and Alex’s heart is thundering and his head feels light and he’s so fucking hard and Zach is still just staring at it.

“It was probably just the – the-“ he licks his lips, voice coming out deeper than usual, his eyes still on his fucking swim shorts.

“-the contact, yeah, again,” Alex finishes for him, scared to move, not sure what the hell he should do right now.

Finally, Zach’s eyes move up to his own and Alex realises how close they are, Zach is near enough sitting on his towel again, his knees brushing Alex’s thighs, his hand that was rolling him over still on his hip.

Alex can’t stop staring at his mouth. Yeah, he’s had a crush on Zach for a while now. He wasn’t sure when it started – somewhere between how close they grew with the tapes and the PT sessions and everything else. The first time this had happened – after their fight in the locker room at the pool, Alex had gone home, tried to jerk off but nothing made him hard again. He tried thinking of Jess, of any famous celebrity. Nothing. Then Zach had flew into his brain and just like that he was hard again. Against his better judgement, he had indulged his thoughts, let his mind be filled with Zach and before he knew it he was coming harder than he ever had. After that, he harboured a quiet crush on Zach, never expecting it to ever come to anything.

Fate had other ideas apparently.

Zach was still staring at him, his eyes flitting from his own, to his lips, back to his swim shorts, back to his eyes.

“Look, its fine – just ignore it and it will go away.”

Alex went to roll back onto his front but Zach’s hand was stopping him. He looked up at him questioningly but Zach was looking around them. The place was empty except from them. When he looked back to Alex, there was something in his eyes that had Alex twitching in his swim shorts again.

“I could – I mean, what if I don’t want to ignore it?”

“What are you talking about?”

“Just-”

He didn’t finish his sentence, instead he was leaning in and Alex wasn’t breathing because Zach fucking Dempsy was kissing him.

_Kissing him._

It felt amazing. Zach’s mouth tasted like mint choc chip ice cream. Alex could smell the musk of his skin, kissed warm by the sun, could taste the salt on his lips. Those big hands of his wrapped around his waist and pulled him so he was flush against his body and Alex gasped into his mouth when he felt Zach’s hardness press against his own.

Zach moaned into his mouth when Alex ground against him a little and sucked at his bottom lip, rolling them so we was straddling Alex, bearing his weight on his elbows, bracketing the smaller boy in his embrace, deepening their kiss and grinding down against him.

“Alex.”

The way he said his name, full of want, voice husky and breathed into his mouth like it was their secret. The Jock moans and it vibrates against his mouth and right down to his dick that is straining in his shorts now, his hips bucking up into Zach’s desperate for him.

“Zach – fuck.”

Zach trails a hand down his chest, palm brushing over a nipple as he goes and toys with the waistband of his swim shorts.

“Is this okay?” he breathes against his mouth, fingers dipping beneath the elastic just slightly, making Alex go mad.

“Yeah, yeah it’s more than okay.”

Zach grins and Alex’s chest swells in that way it does when he looks at Zach, the big fucking ball of sunshine that he is. Alex never thought this would ever happen; having the hottest guy in school making out with him, grinding against him, smiling at him like he hung the moon in the sky.

“Want me to get you off?”

Alex nods frantically, head reeling.

Zach kisses him again and Alex decided he could fall in love with his kisses. His mouth is firm and his lips soft, his tongue dancing with his in a way that has his chest swelling. Zach pulls his waistband down, releasing his hard on from its confines. Alex sighs against his mouth, whimpering when Zach’s big hand wraps around him, pumping him slowly.

The smaller boy’s head falls back on to his towel, hips jerking and moaning when Zach brushes a thumb across the head of his cock, smearing the pre come across his sensitive skin. Alex loves it, loves being crowded in against Zach’s body, loved the smell of him, loves his small murmurs and sighs, loves how he drops his forehead down against Alex’s and moved his hand faster, gripping him tighter, flicking his wrist just so that Alex breathes out his name, hands coming up to grip his arms, nails digging in to his skin.

“Zach, I want – I want you to get off too.”

Zach stills, smiling down at him and nods. Alex’s hands move faster than his, undoing those swim shorts of his that are bright red and hug his thighs and ass in a way that has had Alex sneakily staring all damn day. He tugs them down just enough to free Zach’s erection and he has to bite back a moan at the sight of him.

He big. No surprise looking at the rest of him but fuck he’s big, and hard and Alex preens knowing that it’s because of him.

He glances up at Zach to check he’s still okay with this and the guy is just looking at him in that way of his, cheeks flushed, mouth open, strands of hair falling into his eyes but his expression is one of wonder and lust and it makes Alex feel so fucking good.

He takes Zach in hand, marvelling at the contrast to the feeling of his own cock in his hand, how much bigger and thicker Zach is, how the tip is blushed red and how dark his skin looks against the pale white of his hand. He copies Zach’s movements, both of them jerking each other off, breathing into the space between their mouths, Zach’s hips bucking in to his touch, resting on his elbow by Alex’s head, his hand fisting the fabric of the towel.

“Shit,” the Jock moans when Alex thumbs at his head, “I’m – I’m not going to last long.”

Alex nods, breaths coming out in short pants, hands moving faster, “me neither – feels so good.”

Zach nods and kisses him again and moans against his moth, sending thrills all over his body and Alex feels drunk on this, on him.

He feels Zach brush his hand away from him and he breaks the kiss, Alex having a small moment of fear, thinking he’s changed his mind or that Alex had done something wrong. But instead, he watched in amazement as Zach shift, pressing his body closer until they are brushing against each other. Alex bites his lip against the moan when Zach takes them both in hand they are both leaking at their tips, more pulsing out as Zach moves, brushing their heads together, making Alex’s spine tingle and his toes curl in the grass.

“Ah- Zach, please – don’t stop.”

Zach’s mouth goes to his neck, kissing and biting and sucking and his hand squeezed them both together and Alex bucks into the incredible feeling, Zach grinding down into him, his chest rumbling as he moans Alex’s name over and over again.

Alex can feel his orgasm coming, can feel that delicious tingle in his bones, the tug in his gut, the control leaving his body as he ruts up into Zach shamelessly, the taller boy not seeming to mind as he kisses him again, all tongue and teeth.

“Alex – I’m going to-”

Alex wraps his arms around him, feeling the roll of his back muscles under his soft skin, the velvet wetness of his big cock against his, bringing him closer and closer.

“Me too – fuck – Zach-”

He feels Zach’s release, pulsing over his chest and his name in his lips and he comes at that, moaning into Zach’s skin, hips jerking, nails biting, head thrown back, not giving a shit who hears or who sees, having the best orgasm of his damn life.

Zach collapses on top of him, breathing hard into the crook of his neck, arms around him, holding him in that strong but gentle way he does. Alex feels like jelly, one hand rubbing up and down Zach’s side, the other tangled in his hair, hart thundering as he tries to stop his head from reeling.

After a bit, Zach moves, kissing Alex’s temple and sitting up, grinning down boyishly at the mess they made. Alex watched him tuck himself back into his shorts then reach other for his own towel, wiping away any evidence of their activities. He’s gentle with Alex, cleaning him up and tucking his spent dick back in to his own shorts and chuckling as Alex just lies there, watching him.

“You okay?”

Alex smiles and nods, hand moving to Zach’s when he lies back down, scooting over so they can both fit on the towel.

“That was amazing,” he breaths, feeling Zach’s fingers lace with his own and give a little squeeze.

“Yeah, it was,” comes the reply, Zach turning his head to look at him as he does the same, “can’t believe we’ve never done that before.”

Alex blushes, thumb running over Zach’s knuckles, “would you like to do it again some time?”

The Jock grins, leaning forwards to kiss Alex again, just a small peck on the lips but it had Alex soaring in the sky, “yes,” he says against his mouth, “I’d really like to do that again, any time.”

Alex chuckles and turns his head back to the blue sky, feeling lighter than he has in months.

They lie like that for some time, listening to the leaves rustle in the trees, to the soft ripple of the water, the birds chirping as they flit back and forth. Alex closes his eyes and focuses on the feeling of Zach’s hand in his, his soft breathing, the warmth of his body, the smell of his coconut sun cream.

“I love this, Zach,” he murmurs, smiling just because he’s happy, he’s really fucking happy.

“What? The sun?”

He wants to roll his eyes at him but end up grinning, tilting his head in Zach’s direction but keeping his eyes shut against the sun, “Everything. The sun, the water, you here with me. It’s been a good summer.”

He can hear the grin in Zach’s voice, “the best.”

“I wish it would never end.”

He hears Zach move, opening his eyes to find him leaning up on his elbow beside him, smiling down at him with so much fondness Alex feels like he could cry.

“It doesn’t have to end,” he says, kissing him softly, one hand cradling his jaw. They hear the sound of their friends returning, their laughter as they near and he pulls away and returns to his place beside him but he’s closer now, his arm pressed against Alex’s, fingers still laced with his.

There’s promise in his words, promise that this isn’t just some one off thing, I wasn’t just about helping Alex out or just getting off. It wasn’t some summer romance that they would pretend never happened one day. Alex couldn’t fucking wait for the rest of it.


End file.
